How To Read A Wine Label

There has never been so much wine for us to choose from, wines from every corner of the ‘wine world’ that we are spoilt for choice. So how do we know which wines represent the best examples so we can judge before we buy to always get the best value for money!

The process of buying wine can be made much more interesting and reliable, it just requires the right understanding of what to look for and then to judge if the price fits not only our budget, but also the ‘experience expected’. Then we must learn how to taste and recognize the flavours of the different grape varieties. We will cover this in a subsequent feature!

There is nothing worse as I am sure we have all found out when the excitement of returning home with well earned wine for your pleasure and relaxation, falls short in expectation of taste and quality.

So first we must learn to how read the label, the ‘window to every bottle’. This will help you to choose the best examples from the country of origin, the grape varieties for identification of taste and the best value for money to suit your pocket. If you keep going for the ‘3 bottles for a tenner’ then the chances are you will only benefit from the alcohol content and not the real flavours that better produced wines have to offer. However There are still many good and inexpensive wines out there to be found.

There must be by EU law certain information displayed on the label, this must be on the front of the bottle, some wines will have a back label also describing the style of wine and the flavours to expect from the grape varieties used to make the wine and perhaps certain suggested foods that may best accompany it.

Information by law:

• The quality classification
• The country of origin
• Alcohol content - ABV [alcohol by volume]
• The liquid content - 75cl / litre / 1.5litre etc.
• Year of vintage - if any
• The name and address of producer

Many producers now feel that this amount of information restricts them from advertising with their ‘eye catching logos’ and ‘picture perfect labels’ to grab your attention, so they create a ‘back label’ design with a basic ‘front label’ for the legal requirements, then many times the bottle is turned round on the shelf for display presentation purposes, so take the time to read everything, you will learn more and its fun. There is no need to be confused as the ‘information label’ is there to help you.

Each country has its own quality control system and details will be printed on the label, so we will feature all of these, country by country, in future presentations, keep a look out for them so you can build your knowledge! We will start here as an example with what to look out for on a typical bottle of French Wine and what the terms mean: